Former Menifee PTA treasurer pleads guilty

FRENCH VALLEY -- The former treasurer of Menifee Elementary
School's Parent Teacher Association pleaded guilty this week to
grand theft relating to the loss of more than $10,000 in PTA funds,
according to court records.

Ami Louise Kennison, 27, of Menifee reached a plea agreement
with prosecutors and pleaded guilty Tuesday at Southwest Justice
Center, Riverside County Superior Court records state. She pleaded
guilty to grand theft in excess of $400 and is scheduled to be
sentenced April 15.

Kennison was also charged with embezzlement, but court records
do not state whether that count was dismissed or is still
pending.

She was arrested Feb. 13, one day after the school's PTA
president, Tamarah Rodriguez, told deputies that she believed her
signature had been forged on seven checks Kennison cashed at Bank
of America in Sun City, authorities said. The checks were cashed
from September to February.

Rodriguez told deputies she became suspicious after she arranged
a meeting with Kennison to go over the group's finances for the
midyear audit last month and Kennison didn't show, authorities
said. Rodriguez then went to Bank of America and found that seven
checks totaling more than $10,000 had been cashed, leaving less
than $200 in the account, according to authorities.